silly millionaire of the week

f you ever meet a magic genie and are given the chance to switch lives with one other person on the planet, you probably won’t regret picking Mikhail Prokhorov. Mikhail Prokhorov is a self-made 48 year old Russian billionaire playboy who is perhaps most famous in the western world for being the new owner of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets. Outside of the pro sports, Mikhail has used his massive bank account to build a dream life that includes super model girlfriends, mansions around the world, two mega-yachts, an ultra luxurious private jet and even a semi-successful political career. He is essentially, the ultimate billionaire playboy. And to think, none of it would have been possible without the help of a private jet full of prostitutes and a debaucherous New Years party that landed Prokhorov in a French jail back in 2007. Wait…what??!!

As of June 16th, 2013, Mikhail Prokhorov’s $13.5 billion net worth is enough to make him the 9th richest person in Russia and the 70th richest person in the world . However, unlike most billionaires, the majority of Mikhails’ net worth is made up of cash and other very liquid assets.

In January 2007, Mikhail Prokhorov and a group of close friends hopped aboard his private jet and flew to the upscale French resort town of Courchevel, high up in the Alps to celebrate the Russian Orthodox New Year. Also on board that flight: Eight 20 year old sexy Russian prostitutes. Technically the women were never proven to be anything more than “models” who were brought for “entertainment”, but any reasonable person would agree that this is a very grey area.

After a debaucherous three day party that has been described as a massive orgy, 50 French police officers swooped in and arrested Mikhail and all of the “models”. The women were immediately released, but Mikhail was held in a jail cell for four days on charges that he was importing prostitutes. He was eventually released and all charges were dropped, but the incident sent shock waves all across Russia. The scandal was parodied on dozens of television shows, commercials, magazines and radio stations.

With Norilsk Nickel’s stock price at an all time high, Vladimir Potanin saw the scandal as the perfect opportunity to push his old business partner out to pasture. Over the next 12 months, both parties fought bitterly over the future of Norilsk Nickel. In the end, the pressure was just too much for Prokhorov and he was forced to liquidate 100% of his holdings in the company. He ended up selling his stake to Oleg Deripaska, who at the time the richest person in Russia with a net worth of $28 billion. The final sale price for Mikhail’s stake was $7 billion in cash and $3 billion worth of stock in one of Oleg’s aluminum mining companies.

As it turns out, the timing of his sale could not have been any better. In October 2008, just a few months after Mikhail cashed out, the world economy collapsed. As stocks plummeted, the global commodities market was eviscerated. Oleg Deripaska’s net worth plunged 85% from $28 billion to an all time low of $4 billion (it has since risen back up to $9 billion). All of a sudden, Mikhail Prokhorov found himself sitting alone atop the list of the richest people in Russia and within a few years, as the economy recovered, his net worth grew to over $13.5 billion. Mikhail is no longer the richest person in Russia, but he may be the happiest! After all, if it weren’t for a plane full or high end Russian prostitutes, today he probably wouldn’t be sitting on a mountain of cash as the owner of Brooklyn Nets and Jay-Z’s best friend.

Getting dumped by someone you love is the worst feeling in the world. When you’re heartbroken, there’s nothing that any of your friends or family can do to make you feel better. You think the world is over and you’ll never feel happiness again. Well, one jilted lover in Massachusetts may have found the cure for a broken heart: Winning a $30 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot! And it turns out, this lucky set of events could not have happened to a nicer and more deserving guy…

22 year old Sandeep “Sunny” Singh is exactly the kind of guy who should win the lottery. Singh is a community college student in Hyannis Massachusetts who has worked two jobs to support his family ever since his father passed away when Sandeep was just 14. Since freshman year of high school, Sandeep has worked at McDonalds, Best Buy and a bank to help his mother pay bills and the mortgage. He’s also studying computer science and Cape Cod Community College. Sandeep has played the lottery twice a month since he turned 21 and always buys his quickpick tickets at the same AM/PM. Last week however, Sandeep was working a late shift and was unable to get to the AM/PM in time to buy his tickets for the October 17th drawing, so he asked his sister to buy them instead. As instructed, his sister purchased several quickpicks, one of which ended up containing the winning numbers 13-37-40-46-52 with a Megaball of 29. Just before midnight on October 17th, Sandeep logged onto his computer and discovered he had just won $30.5 million! The total jackpot was $61 million, but another lucky player in California also had the winning numbers so the prize is split.When reporters asked if he had a lucky girlfriend, Sandeep explained that he was recently dumped by the love of his life and had been heart broken for weeks: “She broke up with me, but right now, I’m not really worried about it. I was heartbroken at first, but now I’m getting over it.” Singh has chosen to accept a lump sum payment of $23 million which will be around $16 million after taxes. Sandeep has already given his two week’s notice at Best Buy and will leave his job at Citizens Bank when their fiscal quarter is over next month. He also plans on paying off his mother’s mortgage and will share the money with his lucky sister!

Getting dumped by someone you love is the worst feeling in the world. When you’re heartbroken, there’s nothing that any of your friends or family can do to make you feel better. You think the world is over and you’ll never feel happiness again. Well, one jilted lover in Massachusetts may have found the cure for a broken heart: Winning a $30 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot! And it turns out, this lucky set of events could not have happened to a nicer and more deserving guy…

At London’s highly exclusive Playboy Club under the watch of Guinness World Records judges, an expensive piece of history and cocktail-maestro Salvatore Calabrese’s dream of mixing the world’s most expensive cocktail gets shattered after its key ingredient, a historic cognac worth of $77,480 gets accidentally smashed on floor. One of the world’s leading bartender, Salvatore Calabrese’s record-breaking attempt to mix the ‘Old and Wise’ cocktail, which was to be priced at $7,830 a glass, was dashed after an affluent customer who already ordered two glasses of the vintage 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux generously asked to look at this historic bottle.

The 2012 World Series of Poker has been going on full swing in Las Vegas since late May. There are 61 events scheduled to take place during this year’s series, but none are more prestigious and expensive than the one million dollar buy in ‘Big One for One Drop’ event that recently took place.

The first place prize was a staggering $18 million dollars. The event, which pledged $111,111 of every million dollar buy-in to charity, took place over three days in at the Rio in Las Vegas.

The One Drop charitable organization partners with organizations in third world countries to “bring money, technology and knowledge to communities in need of access to safe water.”

There were 48 professional poker players and business men who participated in the charitable event. Professional poker player Antonio Esfandiari won the event beating out a stacked final table that was broadcast on ESPN to take home the first place prize of $18 million dollars.

Poker Professional Sam Trickett took home over $10 million for second place and Cirque de Soleil found Guy Laliberte earned over $1.8 million for his 5th place finish.

The ‘Big One for One Drop’ event offered the largest individual prize pool in sports history outside of boxing, beating out the purses for winning the Masters, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.

“From day one I just believed I was going to win this tournament. I played my heart out and the poker god’s were on my side” said Esfandiari “The cards came and everything went my way. My bluffs worked, my hands got paid off and I just saw it. I saw me winning the bracelet.”

The event raised over $5.5 million dollars for charity. The money will help bring drinking water to countries in need.